Eight months, it had been nearly eight months since Lucrecia agreed to act as the host for project 'God's Hand.' She was in her final trimester and the baby was due any week now. Vincent lay in bed staring at the slowly moving ceiling fan. Even since that faithful day eight months ago he had never seen Lucrecia more than once or twice a day. Even then it was for as short a time span as she could manage. She was downstairs in the reception hall playing on the piano with Hojo. Vincent stayed in his room. He did not want to force her out of the room. Over the months he tried to talk to her, to apologize for what happened. Once he actually succeeded.
She had had a craving for pickles and risked a visit to the kitchen while Vincent was preparing their meals. With the help of a turkey leg he convinced her to hear him out. When he finished explaining himself she just stared up at him, then looked away. In a broken tone she said, "Vincent… the child… this child could be…" She began to choke on the words. Vincent held his breath the entire time. Then she regained her composure and looked up at him. "This child could be the crowning achievement of my scientific career." With that she stood up and unsteadily walked out of the kitchen.
However Vincent would never give up on her. He could tell from the pained longing looks she gave him the few time they together that she still loved him. They were the same looks he gave her. If that were true though, why wouldn't she say anything? It had to go beyond what happened eight months ago. He had saved her life, surely she could forgive him for that. There had to be more to it.
Gast had been a fantastic friend during this episode. He tried to act as a mediator between the two of them. An attempt which proved to be utterly useless. But he had learned a number of things from Gast about her. It seems since the incident eight months ago, she went back to being Hojo's loyal servant, eager to please her fiancé. 'But,' he said, 'Shes also been extremely detached and… well… distant… I think she misses you…'
Vincent could only pray that he was right. He missed her. But that brought him back to the question at hand. Why was she distanceing herself from him? He just couldn't figure it out. It had to have happened around the time of their 'incident.' That's when she began to act differently. Vincent got up from the bed and took off his shirt and shoes. Then he performed a sort of half jump into the air and landed on his hands up against the wall. He then started to perform vertical pushups. 'What is it that is bothering her so much? Why is she resisting me tooth and nail?' Vincent began to think over the details of project 'God's Hand.' Host… Host has unborn child. Host is injected with weak Jenova based DNA serum to begin the process of changing the child, to make the transition within the unborn child itself more mild. Child, right after birth, is injected while within the mother's womb with stronger Jenova based DNA serum. The child will carry few similarities to it's birth parents but will be dominated by Jenova. At least that was the theory. He was against her participation in project 'God's Hand.' The first time he heard about it he had Hojo and Gast explain it in detail to him.
'What was she trying to say…' Vincent though to himself. "Vicent… the child… this child could be…" he breathed in and pushed himself up once more. 'ours….' He thought to himself. When he realized what that implied he lost his concentration and fell to the ground. 'this child could be ours.' He reviewed in his mind. 'Could it possibly be?'
There was a knock at the door. "Vincent?" Hojo's voice rang out. "You OK? We heard a crash."
"Just tripped, I'm fine!" he quickly replied.
"Alright. IF anyone needs me, I'll be in the lab." He called out before leaving.
Vincent quickly got to his feet and retrieved his shirt and shoes. 'He'd be in the lab.' Lately Lucrecia had been skipping lab work session because of the baby, mainly she would wander around the house or stay close to the mansion. Now was the perfect time for him to talk to her. After exiting he checked her room and the atrium before heading downstairs. Sure enough she was in the kitchen eating. Vincent just walked in and sat across from her at the table. He had no idea how to say this.
"Are you just going to sit there and watch me eat? I know you're a murderer, but I didn't think you were some weird perv as well." She said while giving him an angry glare.
"I… umm…." Vincent tried to begin. Gathering his calm and confidence he started again. "As the father of that child I demand you withdraw from project 'God's Hand."
The scene had stopped. Yuffie began hacking and coughing and fell to her knees. Vincent rushed to her side and gently hit her on the back. She stared up at him. "You were Sephiroth's father?!?!?" she gasped out, utterly shocked.
"I could have been. If I were the father, whatever resemblance between the two of us would have been erased within a week of the child's second Jenova injection. I am as much Sephiroth's parent as Hojo and Lucrecia were. None of us were there for the child. While I was locked away, Lucrecia had left, and Hojo just ignored him. There is no telling now who his birth father was, but I have no right to ever refer to myself as his parent." Vincent ended in a stern and slightly saddened voice. He and Yuffie turned back to the scene and it started again.
Lucrecia stared at him for a moment. Then put her hand on top of his. "I love you Vincent. I always have. Its just that, after you killed those three men I didn't know what to think of you. You were a completely different person."
"Lucrecia… I love you, I always will. Nothing will ever change that…"
"I know… I know… I just let myself get talked away from you by Hojo…"
When Vincent heard this name he became suspicious. "Hojo? What did he have to say?"
Lucrecia was beginning to cry. "He said he always knew you were a murderer. That you were a monster. A ruthless killer. And I believed him…" Her gentle tears became loud sobs. "The last eight months have been the worst of life."
Vincent thought back to that fateful night they shared… nearly nine months ago. The turned to speak to her. "You're due… any day now…"
She quieted herself. "Any day now…"
Vincent stood up. "We'll leave… just the two of us… after the baby is born, we'll take him and run. I can provide for us. There will be no more Shinra, no more Turks, no research, no Jenova or mako. It will just be the two of us. We can run away together." Vincent was exasperated and stared into her eyes. He was desperate for her answer.
Lucrecia dried her tears and stood up. She had a calm proud look in her eyes. "I'm sorry Vincent, but I just can't do that. I've worked too long and hard on this. I won't give up my research for you." She began moving into the doorway. Before she left she said one last thing. "At the beginning and ending of the day, this child is mine. I'll do with him as I please. I'm going along with project 'God's Hand.'" With that she was gone.
Vincent just stared at the space she once occupied. 'She… She left me for her… research…' He thought to himself. Before that he at least had hope that she would return to him, but now even that was gone. Vincent fell down to his knees and tears started flowing from his eyes. With one hand he was supporting himself, with the other he was wiping the tears from his face. 'No…' he said to himself. 'She isn't a cold heartless woman… before this is over she will change her mind. I will just have to be ready for it.' Vincent stood up gathered his wits and began making arrangements for the child's birth. It would be much earlier than anyone expected.
Then he would leave the house and walked into town to ask the town mid-wife is she would stay in the mansion until the baby was born. Eagerly she would agree and take Vincent's room for a time. For three nights Vincent would have to sleep on a slightly less comfortable couch.
In the middle of the fourth day at around 2PM Lucrecia started screaming in her room. Hojo, Gast, the midwife and Vincent all rushed to her room. Lucrecia was on the ground. "My water broke, I think the baby is coming." She said, sweat had formed on her brow and both her hands were on her stomach. Gast and the mid-wife helped her onto the bed. Her moaning sounded painful. Sweat was starting to break out on Vincent's forehead, and his heart was thumping at speeds unknown to man.
The mid-wife took control of the situation. "Mr. Hojo, please go to my room and get the large black bag next to the door. Mr. Valentine, I want you to go to my house and get my daughter. I would like her here for this, it will be a learning experience for when I'm gone. Don't let her forget her equipment. Gast, I want you here until my daughter arrives." Hojo left quickly, Gast nervously nodded and Vincent made like a bat out of hell.
He burst out of the door and ran into town in a huge panic. People turned to stare at him for a moment as he ran to the mid-wife's house. He burst through the door and started screaming. "Midwife! Daughter! Lucrecia! Baby! Now!" Vincent was panting trying to catch his breath. An old man got up from a arm chair in the center of the room.
"I'm sorry, my daughter is on a date at the restaurant." Vincent nodded and was about to leave. "Wait! Take that black bag with you. She'll need that." He pointed near the door. Vincent grabbed the bag and ran back outside to the restaurant. It was the same restaurant the attack had happened at eight and a half months earlier. When he rushed in he recognized her, she was sitting next to another local man. He stopped in front of their table. They both looked up at him. Vincent was out of breath and began shaking the bag at her and pointing towards the mansion with his other hand. They both looked at him as if he were crazy. Finally he took a moment to catch his breath and explained. "She's gone into labor, your mother wants you there."
Quickly she stood up and kissed the man on the forehead, then ran out the door towards the mansion. Vincent looked down at the bag and groaned for a second before sprinting to catch up. "Where are they?" she asked.
"Second floor right hand side." He replied. Then entered the mansion and ran back up the stairs to the room. Hojo was in the corner arms crossed a concerned look on his face. Gast was beside Lucrecia helping her through her breathing exercises, which he himself was having some trouble with. He was stark white and extremely appreciative when he was dismissed. The mid-wife thanked Vincent and asked that he and Hojo leave for now. All three men made their way down stairs and the hours dragged by.
It was now 7PM. No one save Hojo had moved from the reception hall where they waited. Gast and Vincent were pacing parallel to each other on opposite sides of the hall, both men were panicked to no end. Hojo sat on the love-seat with his feet up. He was eating grapes out of a bowl.
"Would you two stop? You're giving me a headache." Hojo exclaimed.
Both men just looked at him. Gast just shook his head and continued to pace. Vincent was not as forgiving. "Look at you just sitting there, aren't you the least bit worried about your wife and child?!" Vincent gave him a hard stare.
"My child?" Hojo replied in a menacing questioning tone, while meeting Vincent's stare with and icy cold glare.
For a moment Vincent was scared for Lucrecia and her child. 'What does he know?' he asked himself.
"Listen we are all under a lot of pressure. So lets just cool down. OK?" Gast said out loud. He hadn't noticed the tone of Hojo's reply.
Vincent broke off from their conversation and went upstairs to his room. He paced around for a few minutes wondering what to do. Quickly he made his descision. He pulled out his duffel bag from the closet and started throwing sets of clothes inside. Only three. He did not think he would need more to make the journey. From the back of his closet he pulled out a long rectangular box. Removing the lid he ran his finger over the DeathPenalty. He pushed it into his bag along with some cases of bullets, he would definetly need this. He pulled out his pistols from his drawer where they were stored. The smaller one he placed on his ankle holster, and after loading the quicksilver holstered it on his back. He could hear yelling from outside his room. It was the mid-wife's daughter.
"Its finished, she is now the proud mother of 6 pound son!" she exclaimed. He heard some racing footsteps up the stairway. 'Probably Hojo and Gast.' He thought to himself. 'Its almost time.' He thought to himself. 'Damnit Lucrecia, hes your first-born son. You can't just give him up to science. I know that, you know that, and Hojo probably knows that.' He pushed his duffel bag back under his bed and opened the door.
Gast had just emerged from Lucrecia's room. "Vincent! She's asking for you! Lucrecia needs to talk to you."
Vincent walked forward and gently grabbed his friend by the arm. "Where is Hojo?"
"He took the child down to the lab. The mid-wife threw a fit, but Lucrecia is asking for you."
Vincent walked into the room. On the bed Lucrecia was under several comforters crying her eyes out. He knelt down beside her.
Between sobs she said, "Vincent! Please you have to stop him. Please, I just want my son back. This is all my fault, I should have listened to you from the start. This was a mistake. Please Vincent, bring my child back to me." She began to quiet down waiting for his response.
"I'll do my best." Was his only reply. He stood up and walked to the next room to the passageway leading to the labs.
Gast stood back in awe of what was happening. The two mid-wives were mildly confused. As Vincent walked down the circular stairway he could hear echos from the rooms above. "Gast would you please pack some clothes for me? I don't think we'll be here long after this."
"Of course." he replied. 'Good ol Gast.' Vincent thought to himself. 'Who could ask for a better friend…'
"You can't leave today!" One of the mid-wives exclaimed. "Its too soon."
"I'm sorry but I have to leave as soon as possible. Please help—" Her voice faded away. Vincent quickly walked down the passageway and threw open the door to the lab.
Hojo was in front of the desk filling two scringes, a larger one and a smaller one with a turquoise glowing liquid. "Its over Hojo. I won't allow 'God's Hand' to be." Vincent took a few steps forwards towards Hojo. "Do you hear me? Its cancelled. We're all against this, its madness and its not going to happen." Hojo placed the scryinges down on the desk and stepped forward to meet Vincent. There were standing toe to toe staring straight at each other.
Hojo just smiled at him. "Whatever you and Lucrecia feel is best. The baby is in the cradle next to the door. You can take him up to his mother. Hmph… You were probably right… It was madness. Trying to recreate a god." He seemed perfectly calm.
The newborn began to cry. He was in the crib next to the door, just as Hojo said. Vincent began to turn around, and took a step towards the crib. That's when he felt it. A quick hand snake up the back of his jacket and pull free the quicksilver. In an instant Vincent hand spun around, but it was too late. The last thing he saw before he collapsed from the four gun shots was Hojo's smiling face. But he could still hear a voice… Hojo's voice. "Vincent… I'll allow you to see her once more… Lucrecia… through me… I'm about to inject you with the Jenova cells… The experience is much more potent if its your first time…" Then he felt it, a prick in his arm and all his senses faded.
Almost immediately afterwards his sight returned. It was very bleary and took a moment to focus. He tried to move his head, move his arms, but he didn't have any control. Slowly his eyes focuses and he realized what he was staring at. His own body. In his hands, or in Hojo's hands was the larger scryinge he had filled when Vincent had entered the lab. Hojo threw it on the ground next to Vincent and then picked up the smaller one. The baby was still crying, his hearing was beginning to phase in as well. The baby let out a squeal when Hojo pricked him in the arm with the needle. He left the needle in the crib and picked up the child. Slowly he began walking back to the stairwell, and slowly he climbed it. At the top in his room, four people were waiting for him. The two mid-wives to comforting Lucrecia and Gast was piling some clothes in her bags. They all stopped and stared at Hojo when he entered the room.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to God's Hand, Sephiroth." Hojo's voice carried a sadistic glee.
Lucrecia began to cry and Gast's mouth dropped open. "What happened to Vincent? Where is he?"
"Ohh Vincent? He left after I finished giving Sephy his shots. Seemed really sad. Why do you ask?"
"We sent him down to stop you. Lucrecia, decided to back out of the project."
Hojo gave Lucrecia a look of horror. "Oh my god, Lucrecia! I'm so sorry! But you said you were in the project heart and soul so I just went with it. I'm so sorry." Lucrecia covered her face with her hands and started sobbing once again. In a soft voice Hojo said, "Your son is now Jenova's" Everything faded into black.
Now they were back again in the basement. Hojo had just walked in and placed the baby back in his crib. Then he started dragging Vincent's body into the back of the room.
Yuffie began to speak. "I don't get it Vincent. She said it herself, it was her fault that she didn't hear you out. Why are you punishing yourself?"
"Because it was my fault. I could have stopped her. I waited until the bitter end before I lifted a finger. I could have taken her away before hand. Hidden her from him." Vincent replied.
"It wouldn't have worked. She had to make the descision on her own, under no duress. If you would have kidnapped her, she would have resisted to no end. Not because she believed in the project, but because all choice was being stripped from her. The descision was her choice, and she made it too late." Yuffie pleaded with him. "It disgusts me, as soon as she realized her mistake she throws you in to rectify it. After how horribly she treated you, she comes back and pleads for your help. She didn't even apologize!" Her voice was becoming weak herself.
Vincent turned to face her, and in a low stern almost angry voice replied, "She didn't have to… I loved her, and she loved me… I would have died for her, and I made sure she knew it."
Yuffie glared at him, her own anger beginning to surface, "That's all nice and peachy, but in the beginning of the day and the end of the day the child was hers. And she did with him as she pleased." Her use of Lucrecia's own words shook him to his core. "Maybe if she had made the descision earlier there would have been something you could have done, but as it stands you have nothing to blame yourself for." Vincent turned from her gaze and looked further into the lab where Hojo was now strapping Vincent's body down onto an operating table. Hanging on the wall behind him was an ancient prosthetic arm from the elbow down. It was made up of a bronze colored metal, but no normal human would ever be able to use it. However, that was what all the needles were for, after that fateful night Vincent would never be normal again. "Vinny! Vinny! Are you even listening to me?!" Vincent turned his gaze back to her. In a saddened voice she said, "She was a grown woman, independent and strong. She made her own descision. There was little to nothing you could have done to convince her to stop until it was too late…"
'Oh Gods.' He thought to himself. 'Was there nothing else I could have done? Did I fail her or her me?' With his right human hand he wiped the tears that were forming in his eyes.
Yuffie gently stepped forward and slipped her arms around his torso. "You did everything you could in anticipation of her descision, and so did Hojo. But until she made that descision there was nothing you could have done." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her close. Gast had just walked in on Hojo.
Gast was shocked, "Dear god Hojo, what have you done?"
Hojo gave Gas an annoyed look. "Get over here Gast. You've worked as a doctor, I need you to remove the bullets in his chest. Or our friend here will be dead."
Gast walked closer and examined the body. "This isn't right… He should be dead. Why isn't he dead?"
"Jenova is keeping him alive. It was her will that he live, live to regret, live to lament."
For about an hour afterwards Gast operated on Vincent. It was a slow process maneuvering around Vincent's vitals and retrieveing the bullets. But after an hour he had successfully removed all four bullets. "When will he regain consciousness?"
"A few hours." Hojo calmly said as he examined vincent's chest and began to stitch it back together. "That's when the real fun will begin…"
Gast was shocked. "You're a monster…" He began to back away.
Hojo was staring at Vincent's face, "No… But he will be soon enough." He turned to Gast. "Best to tell Lucrecia that he left. It will make it easier for her…"
"I need to talk to him, before you start whatever it is you're doing." Gast said. Hojo just nodded and Gast left.
"Poor trusting fool." Hojo said out loud. Then he turned back to Vincent. From a portable surgery tray Hojo pulled out a long glass beaker with a rubber stopper at the end. Gently he pulled the stopper out and wafted the fumes inside the beaker under Vincent's nose. Half a moment later Vincent's head shot up, his body and shoulder were still on cold surgery table. Vincent's eyes were wide open and his breathing was extremely heavy. His blue eyes were darting back and around the room before they finally fell on Hojo. Hojo leaned down on the table, his left elbow was on the table and his head was in his palm. "Sorry to wake you. I just wanted to remind you to thank Gast and Jenova the next time you see them. Jenova kept you alive after uhh… well you remember. And Gast pulled all the bullets out and repaired your insides." Hojo turned around and walked to the wall. "But more importantly, I need your help. You see you are in the most precarious and opportune position. I need someone to volunteer to put this on." Hojo returned to the operating table now carrying a long bronze arm, it was slightly more narrow than a regular arm. The fingers stretched out a little into talons.
Beads of sweat started to form on Vincent's brow. "Why can't I move?" Vincent asked.
"Muscle relaxants." Hojo quickly explained. "Now, listen up because this is important. This prosthetic arm has responded to only two things while I was testing it. Mako and life-stream." Hojo began paceing back and forth in the room weighing the arm in his hand. "I'm going to infuse you with both. However, since there is no ready source of life-stream I'm just going to use the next best thing. Materia. I'm going to devolve a material orb and inject its life-stream equivalent into your blood stream."
Vincent's head was bobbing up and down in attempts at movement. "Why are you doing this?"
Hojo put the arm down on the far table and walked up next to Vincent. He lowered his head so it was just above Vincent's. "Because you nearly ruined everything. You took my wife away. For a time I loved her, and you soiled that love. I can never look at her again without the image of you doing god knows what in a hotel-room. You ruined her for me. I knew that after she had you she would never volunteer for 'God's Hand'." He stood up again and started pacing. "So I decided to take matters into my own hand. I took her to lunch."
The truth was beginning to dawn on Vincent.
"I hired those three men to walk into town find me in the restaurant. If she didn't agree to participate in 'God's Hand' they were to shoot her."
Vincent scoffed. "Of course. Not even you are stupid enough to wear a lab-coat on a date."
Hojo smiled back. "That's how they knew which couple to assult."
Vincent frowned. "But if she were shot, how would that further project 'God's Hand'?"
"Simple. In a wave of adrenaline I would race to the lab and retrieve a needle of the Jenova DNA serum and give her a shot. It would keep her alive long enough for Gast to operate. Then it was simply a matter of impregnateing her." He laughed out loud for a moment. "After she screwed you, you wouldn't believe how eager she was to please."
Vincent made an angry throat noise and yelled out, "You rat-bastard!"
"Indeed." Hojo coolly replied. "After the baby was born, I just had to give him the shot, and what do ya know? As a result of Lucrecia's injection somehow it was passed on in a much stronger dose to the baby, and it would have ended there. But you had to interfere, and kill those men." Hojo rested his arms and head on Vincent's chest. Vincent had to pull his head up just to meet his stare. "It all worked out for the best. With my help she became disgusted at what a murderous monster you were, and willingly volunteered for 'God's Hand'." Hojo's eyes narrowed and his stare became icy. "She could have had her child. I could have kept my wife and retained 'God's Hand'. But you had to interfere. You truly are a monster." Hojo stood up again and picked up the bronze prosthetic, holding it by the elbow joint he pushed Vincent's head down onto the cold operating table. "This, my good friend, is only the beginning."
From the back of the room Hojo pulled out a coat rack. "This will just have to do." He explained. He hung on it a large plastic bag full of the same glowing blue liquid Lucrecia had shown him on the elevator some years earlier. Running through the bottom of the bag was a small plastic tube, the tube ended in a needle. "I already explained why we need the mako. With it running through your veins I believe the arm will work." Vincent let out a soft cry as Hojo pushed the needle into his right wrist and taped it on. "An amount this large usually results in a coma but I'm hoping Jenova will see you through."
"You still have a problem. I already have an arm, and you don't know how to attach that." Vincent pointed out. He was praying that some logic could dissuade this maniacal bastard from cutting his arm off.
Hojo gave him a sad look. "Sometimes, Vincent, I was jealous of you. You had Lucrecia's love, good friends, your health." He laughed for a moment. "But now look at you. You're a monster. Well you always were, I'm just bringing out what was already there." Hojo gave him a calm smile as he moved around to his left side. "One thing you still have though is a friend who cares enough about you to attach a prosthetic limb should the occasion arise." He turned his head to the side and looked at the door. "Jenova senses tingling. Gast is on his way here. Doesn't give me much time." From under the operating table Hojo brough up a hand axe. "Don't worry Vincent, the muscle relaxants won't stop the pain."
"No, stop, you're crazy think about this!" Vincent pleaded.
"You're right right Vincent, I am crazy." The axe came down with a thud, for a moment Vincent thought he heard something rip.
Something was beginning to pain. His left arm below the elbow had begun to tingle. Suddenly Vincent realized Hojo had just cut his arm off. His lower lip was quivering and he did his best to hold back all signs of pain, psychological and physical. He turned his head to the right away from Hojo.
"Now what to do with this." A mischevious grin got caught on the mad scientist's face. He jumped on top of the table and then dropped to his knees straddling Vincent over the chest. "Hey Vincent… What did the fingers say to the face? SLAP!" With that at a thunderous speed holding Vincent's left arm at the joint slapped Vincent across the face. Then the dismounted Vincent and threw the arm in the corner. Hojo walked back over the desk and from one of the drawers pulled out a fire materia. Quickly he cast a fire 2 spell on the appendage and placed the materia back in the drawer. "There, the deed is done. So you can stop beating yourself up over it." Hojo started laughing again over his lame joke.
Vincent was still in a state of shock. Just then Gast walked in. When the stepped through the doorway he recoiled in disgust. The smell of burning flesh perturbed him. Hojo saw him and activated the ceiling vents, clearing the room of the disgusting smell. Gast walked into the back area. When Gast saw Vincent he recoiled in fear. "Hojo! What the hell is wrong with you? What have you done?!"
"I don't know doc, but you have to help Vincent, hes coming to pieces." This time Hojo fell to the ground in laughter. He curled up in a ball started pounding on the ground.
Gast ran forward and grabbed a thick cloth from the table and applied pressure to the wound. That's when he noticed the prosthetic on the table, and the pile of burning flesh in the corner of the room. Gast started to go pale.
Hojo finally stopped laughing and stood up. "I'm sorry doctor. You have to realize though… I've dreamed of this moment since the moment I learned of my wife's infidelity. But I'll try to act more professional in the future." He turned around and began to leave, before he exited he stopped and began to speak again. "Be a pal to Vince. Attach the arm." Then he was gone.
Yuffie just looked up at him, tears were crawling out of her eyes and dragging down her face. 'There was more to this place that Lucrecia.' Up to now she had dealt with people, comforted him with reminders that they were all watching from the beyond, that they were all eccastic and happy for him, but what do you say to someone who had been attacked so violently physically and mentally? Her mind flashed over scenes: Hojo bent over Vincent. "You truly are a monster; Hojo shoving him in the head with the metal gauntlet; Hojo slapping Vincent with his own arm. A fresh set of tears came to her eyes. "There is nothing I could say to comfort you, but no one I don't care who, not even Sephiroth himself deserves to be treated that way."
"Yuffie, I've found closure from this place in my mind a long time ago." Suddenly there was a flash and the two of them were standing on the control platform for the Sister Ray. Vincent was standing in the center of the platform, against the railing was a mutated Hojo, the creature was still wearing glasses, even after his transformation. Hojo was slumped on the ground, panting hard, one hand holding him up on the railing. The final shot was just an exclamation point on all that had happened between the two. Vincent released his finger from the trigger and creature before him stopped breathing. "Don't concern yourself with this pain, I dealt with it five days before we entered the Northern Caverns. Now all I have is this as a reminder." Vincent clenched his bronze fist. The scene seemed to melt away and they were back in the lab.
Gast was finishing up connecting Vincent's stump to the Bronze gauntlet. "The man is sick. He said he wouldn't do anything until after I spoke with you. He's crazy, that's the only explanation." Gast closed the final plate on his arm. "Vincent! Vincent!"
Vincent was still dazed. Most of the pain was gone, but the memory was still fresh on his mind. It took a quick slap from Gast to tear him away from it. "Hmm? What?"
"Where did you hide your gun?" Gast asked plainly. "I'm going to kill him, then I'm going to get you and Lucrecia out of this place. Now tell me, where do you hide your gun."
Vincent looked at him for a moment. "Hojo probably has more Jenova running through his veins than Lucrecia, Sephiroth, and myself combined. It doesn't matter what the situation is, with the fire-power here alone you don't stand a chance against him."
"Vincent please!" Gast pleaded. Let me help you.
Vincent locked gazes with Gast and said, "Swear to me you'll follow my instructions down to the letter."
"Vincent, I-"
"SWEAR IT!"
"Fine, I swear. Your instructions down to the letter."
Vincent layed his head back down and began stareing at the ceiling. "Tomorrow, by noon, I want you to take Lucrecia and leave. You are never to come back to this place, or retell what happened here. Just get our, get her out, and stay as far away from that madman as possible." Vincent flicked his fingers on his new left arm. It was the first movement he made with them. "Eventually he will try to get to you, if only because you've seen me now as I am. So get away from here and stay away. Forget about me. My rifle is in my duffel bag under my bed. Give it to Lucrecia, there is also a revolver on the ground in the lab near the door. You can use that, there are more cartridges for it in my bag. But you can't fight Hojo, he's now more powerful than bullets." Vincent turned his head to look at his friend one last time. "Get the gun, and get out of here. Now."
Gast was speechless. He quietly moved from Vincent's side to the front of the lab. After a bit of searching Gast found the gun. After placing it in his pocket he left the lab never to return.
Vincent drifted off into a nightmare filled slumber. Several hours later he awoke again to prickling feeling in his right arm. Opening his eyes he twisted his head around to the side to see Hojo replacing the drip that was once in his wrist.
Hojo looked over to him sensing his movement. "You finished your mako supper. So, I started again with the life-stream equivalent." Again Hojo walked closer to his head to give a more detailed explanation. "You're a Turk, so you obviously know about the different types of material. Say if I were to devolve an Ultima material. With the help of Jenova, I believe you would gain the innate ability to perform the spell Ultima. Or if I chose an Chocobo lure, chocobos would be lured to you. You get the picture. I happened to have two very rare summon materias. Chaos, and Odin. Odin apparently was a knight who fought in defense of the human race. Chaos was a demon who was bent on the anihalation of manking. I thought you would be more comfortable with Chaos."
Vincent moaned once and tried to move his bronze arm. Hojo noticed his attempt and casually commented, "The muscle relaxants will affect your movement there as well." Hojo lowered himself to Vincent's level, in line with his head, and began speaking again, "Really you should thank me. Jenova just wanted to torture you to death. I, however, will allow you to live. I've given you an arm more powerful than your original. The Jenova cells inside you will keep you immune to all sickness and disease, the mako will strengthen you in all abilities you possess and the demon chaos will give you abilities you could never dream of. Imagine it, the powers of a full fledged demon. We just have three blood infusions left until I'm done with you." Hojo got to his feet and added three more bags of blood to the coat rack. "For the sake of posterity, I've left all my notes in a box I'll leave with you."
"What are you going to do with me when this is finished." Vincent asked.
Hojo shrugged. "I certainly don't want to deal with you. I'll leave you here for the next unlucky soul who stumbles into this place. That won't be in days or months, not even years. You're looking at decades or centuries even. I'll burn all your things and pick up some new clothes for you." Hojo removed the now empty drip of lifestream from the inside of his right elbow and replaced it with a plastic bag of red blood. In his right wrist Hojo inserted a needle leading to a bag of purple blood, and into his upper arm a bag leading into a bag of yellow blood.
Vincent felt a growing heat and pain in his body. Voices were emerging. Was he going crazy? He started shaking his head trying to ignore the voices. He shut his eyes and the voices only became louder. He felt a sharp pain on his cheek. Again there it was. In the distance he heard a voice. "Vincent… Vincent…."
He opened his eyes directly above his face was Hojo. Hojo slapped him across the face once more. "Vincent. Concentrate on my voice… As the last person from this lifetime you'll see, I just wanted to say one thing." Their eyes met. Both men's faces carried an indifferent calm. "I win… You lose…" There was a prick in his arm, and Vincent fell unconscious again.
Vincent knew he was dreaming. This place was black, he had fallen. As he stood up and looked around he noticed the four beasts that stood before him. Somehow he knew their names. The first in the center was a large purple beast with horns, The Galian Beast. Behind it to its left was a Frankenstein like creature, monstorous towering over even him, The Death Gigas. To its right was a mask wearing chainsaw bearing maniac, The Hellmasker. Behind them all was a fourth figure half covered in shadow, Vincent could only make out his silohette. Chaos. Vincent turned and began to walk away from them. But the first three caught up to him, ran ahead of him beside him hissing the names of his dead loved ones in his ear, reminding him of all his faults, and even creating a few to see if he could tell the difference. In time it wouldn't matter to them, it was all the same. They had found a new host who could feed any and all their needs until the end of time. Or until he finally passed over. Except for Chaos, who waited in the back of Vincent's mind, semi dormant. Only the Chaos manual had the power to fully awaken Chaos. The manual that Lucrecia stole from Hojo, before he had the opportunity to burn it.
Wake up….
Vincent awoke. There was total darkness. He felt around with his limbs. He was in some sort of box, except it wasn't exactly shaped like a box. He started pushing on the sides and the top came loose. The small room was ill lit with a single light-bulb at the corner of the room.
Vincent covered Yuffie's eyes. "Hey! Vinnie what are you doing?"
"I'm naked."
"Oh."
Vincent climbed out of the box and examined his surroundings. There were two other caskets on either side of his own. On the walls there were stacked bodies, the flesh eaten off them by time. On the table at the back there were a few item. First there was a pistol. The PK he had been wearing on his ankle. Then there were clothes. Odd clothes. He began to put them on.
Vincent uncovered Yuffie's eyes. "Woo Hoo!" she exclaimed. But Vincent's pants were already on and he had just finished tucking his shirt in. "Dag nabit…"
When he threw the cloak on he noticed that under it was note scribbled on a sheet of notebook paper. The message read:
Vincent,
There is a key hidden within
This house to open this room.
However you only need the
Key enter. You are free to exit
At any time you please. Should
You choose to.
-Hojo
Vincent placed the pistol on the holster on his hip and turned to the door. Then they came again, the voices, those three demons reminding him of all his sins. Throwing the names of the dead in his way. They told him it was all his fault. That he deserved much worse than they could give him. Vincent's soul was flushed with sadness. He was ignoreing every word they threw at him. All he could think about was his most recent failure. He thought about how he failed Lucrecia and Sephiroth as he climbed back into his coffin, and for thirty years the demons feasted on his guilt.
"And there I remained." Vincent said turning back to Yuffie.
"Until an overactive ninja burst in, with six other members of a terrorist organization following behind her warning her to be careful."
"You were the first person I saw in thirty years."
"What did you think?"
"You looked so lively, so young and innocent. I wanted you to get as far away from me as possible."
Yuffie turned to the side and laughed. "Usually men have to get to know me before they go that far." Yuffie turned her quickly and stole a glance at his handsome face. "What do you think now?"
"I'm glad it was you who found me." He held his hand out to her.
"So am I." He took his human hand in his left and they locked gazes. 'Is he smiling?' she thought to herself. And indeed he was.
So, so much discomfort, Nauseau, headaches. Being sick sucks. But that won't keep me from updating. Primarily because I finished this chapter nearly a week ago and all i have to do is participate in a series of clicks to get me there. But thats beside the point. Infact if i had a point, i assure you i'd get to it. But in lack of one i'll just skip to the replies. Forgive me if they're a little short. Its 12:41AM and i need sleep, and this headache does nothing to help.
Paine Kisaragi: Thanks for the enthusiasm, I hope you like this chapter as much as you did the previous!
Hotaru170: Lucrecia was stupid, or atleast thats how I liked to look at it. Her as some pig headed fool who willingly placed herself in the role of damsel in distress.
Shadow Reaver: If you're talking about the breakfest scene, then ya, I kinda liked that one too. If you're talking about the restaraunt, then I really enjoyed writing that. I had to get up and act out the movement to finish finding the words for it.
Eva: Thanks for the compliment, I just wish my English prof felt the same way.
Pixie: Cold as a cadaver my friend, cold as a cadaver.
Felichel: Sure would be. I wonder how all the people in the town would have reacted to this guy who nonchalantly kills three heavies in a restaraunt.
Anyways, I'm out. I have to take care of my allergy problem before i can make an attempt to go to sleep. Funny I never realized i had allergies until i started a sport, and realized i couldn't breathe during the first practice. meh.
Matta raishu!